'Game of Thrones' fans are losing it after a long-awaited reunion finally happened

"Game of Thrones" finally delivered one of the most-anticipated reunions yet — Arya Stark and her beloved direwolf Nymeria.

Ever since the first season when Arya forced Nymeria to run away (because Cersei would have had the beast killed for attacking Prince Joffrey), people have hoped to see the direwolf again. Fans were slightly faked out by the preview for episode two, which showed a wolf snarling at Arya.

But Nymeria didn't go with Arya. She turned and left instead. And Arya said, "That's not you."

Just to be clear, that definitely was Nymeria. The showrunners were just using a clever wordplay to call back to a scene between Arya and Ned on the first season. Ned sat down with Arya and told her she would be a lady with children and lord to look after, Arya replied: "That isn't me."

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were drawing parallels between Arya's unruly side and Nymeria's lack of domesticity.

"Arya's not domesticated and it makes total sense that her wolf wouldn't be either," coshowrunner D.B. Weiss said in the "Inside the Episode" special after the credits.

The scene evoked many emotions from fans, who were jumping from their seats with excitement.

"Game of Thrones" has been sorely lacking in the direwolf department for several seasons now. Sansa's direwolf, Lady, was executed in place of Nymeria back on the first season. Then Robb's direwolf, Grey Wind, was killed at the Red Wedding on the third season and its head was brutally tied to Robb's body by the Freys for a sick parade of celebration.

Grey Wind and Robb after the Red Wedding on the third season. hbogo.com

Then Summer, Bran's Direwolf, was unceremoniously killed off when the Night King attacked the Three-Eyed Raven's cave on season six. And shortly thereafter, we learned that Rickon's wolf, Shaggydog, was killed when the young Stark was captured by the Umbers. Fans had to watch Shaggydog's head tossed around twice over the course of season six, just to add salt to the wound.

Jon Snow's direwolf, Ghost, is still alive — but we haven't seen him since the beginning of the sixth season.

So fans were desperate for more direwolf action. After all, we've had plenty of epic dragon scenes over the course of the last season. But the CGI budget constraints have likely meant that the added shots of Daenerys' dragons flying around cut into the budget for direwolves.

Ghost fiercely protecting Jon Snow's body. HBO

And the direwolves are most than just badass pets — they have a mystical connection to each Stark descendant (yes, even Jon Snow). Though their powers went largely undeveloped, each Stark kid would have had the ability to warg into their respective direwolf.

So far only Bran has been given warging powers on the show, but Jon and Arya have both had telling "wolf dreams" in the book series. There's technically still time for the show to go this route with additional Starks, but a more likely scenario is that the series wanted to emphasize Bran's significance and make his warging ability appear more rare.

Nymeria looks savage. HBO

Nymeria's appearance was welcome, even if it was cut short. Arya parted ways with her direwolf once more, but this time with a mutual understanding that they were each on their own path now. Nymeria will presumably continue dominating the pack of wolves in the riverlands while Arya finally turns north and returns to Winterfell.

We're hoping this isn't the last time we'll see Nymeria. After all, the great war for Westeros hasn't truly begun yet. Fingers crossed that, when the time comes, Nymeria and her wolf pack will reappear once more and join the fight against the army of the dead.